BY LEVI PULKKINEN, SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

Updated 9:54 am, Monday, October 7, 2013

An Auburn man accused of shooting one of his customers during a rolling shooting after a botched medical marijuana sale now faces assault charges.

King County prosecutors contend Justin W. Ice was selling medical marijuana out of the back of his car at a Renton elementary school when a sale went bad.

According to charging papers, Ice, 35, opened fire after one of his customers drove off with a half-pound of marijuana. Ice is also alleged to have held a second man unrelated to the drug theft at gun point.

Described in court papers as a licensed medical marijuana seller, Ice is alleged to have been meeting a customer at Lakeridge Elementary School in Skyway when the shooting occurred.

Writing the court, a King County Sheriff’s Office detective said Ice and the would-be customer met at the school, where the customer asked to double the size of his order to a half-pound of marijuana. The pair drove to a nearby Safeway to buy baggies – Ice apparently had plenty of marijuana, but no bag large enough for a half-pound – and returned to the school to make the sale.

During the exchange, the customer threw down several counterfeit $100 bills, grabbed the marijuana and jumped into a waiting Chevy Tahoe, the detective continued.

Ice is alleged to have fired on the SUV while driving after it. The Tahoe driver was shot in the back but was able to flee the area and call his mother, who took him to Harborview Medical Center.

The men in the Tahoe threw the marijuana out of the vehicle while they were fleeing. Those who would speak with police have denied having any weapons in the SUV.

Prosecutors contend Ice then stopped another man outside a Skyway home. While shell casings from two different pistols were found at the scene – including unusually colored casings matching those in Ice’s pistol – prosecutors only contend Ice pointed his gun at the other man.

The man denied knowing Ice or having anything to do with the marijuana theft. According to charging papers, he claimed he was walking from his girlfriend’s home to a relative’s house when Ice confronted him without cause.

Sheriff’s deputies arrived while Ice was confronting the other man. He had a pistol with him at the time.

All of the men in the SUV denied knowing the young man Ice is alleged to have threatened. Each said he was not part of any marijuana sale.

Speaking with police, Ice denied firing his pistol during the deal, the detective told the court. Investigators claim to have matched a bullet pulled from the shot man’s body to Ice’s pistol.

Ice has been charged with one count of first-degree assault and one count of second-degree assault. He is not currently jailed in the case.